UNIFIED Music Group has announced the return of The UNIFIED Grant, an initiative to help creatives – from photographers and designers to developers and journalists – to break into the Australian music industry.
The UNIFIED Grant will award $5,000 in funding to five creative projects led by five inspiring individuals or groups that influence positive, meaningful, and sustainable change.
This comes as UNIFIED Music Group celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2021 and as CEO Jaddan Comerford celebrates his own milestone this year, 20 years in the music business.
The grant is inspired by UNIFIED’s bedroom beginnings as Boomtown Records, to its stake as one of Australia’s largest independent music companies now offering a full suite of artist and music services from its offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Los Angeles, and London.
“At UNIFIED, we’re all about investing in an ecosystem for creative talent to thrive, and this is a part of that,” CEO and Founder, Jaddan Comerford, said. “We’re looking for creative people working with ideas that are contributing to a sustainable future for our industry”.
Comerford first announced The UNIFIED Grant during his keynote speech at BIGSOUND 2016, where he hoped the initiative would “foster the next generation of driven creatives who want to work in music but don’t play an instrument”.
In its first year, The UNIFIED Grant had close to 200 applicants putting together a wide array of impressive creative initiatives, and it took a dedicated panel to select the five talented recipients.
The UNIFIED Impact Committee, made up of UNIFIED Music Group and Partner staff for the purpose of coordinating meaningful initiatives, will review all submissions that meet the criteria to create a shortlist of finalists. Final winners will be decided through a voting system with all UNIFIED Music Group staff contributing.